


A Boy in Brooklyn

by VanillaMostly



Category: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith
Genre: F/M, Gen, POV Minor Character, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-09 09:50:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8886247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VanillaMostly/pseuds/VanillaMostly
Summary: Boy meets girl in Brooklyn, summer 1917.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rina (rinadoll)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinadoll/gifts).



> Hi rinadoll, this is an extra story that didn't seem to fit your prompt that well, so I didn't use this for the official one. Just something cute and short that I thought I'd share XD

 

He met her when he was nineteen and she was fifteen but she looked even younger, so skinny in her collared dress and her long brown braids pinned up. But it was more than the physical appearance, it was her gaze and the way she walked and gestured with her hands, like excitement and nervousness threatening to burst. Ben, having gone to these summer classes for years surrounded by utterly bored or harassed students, found her immediately refreshing.

 

The bookshop clerk, Rheumy Ron, was trying to swindle the poor girl and Ben could not resist giving her a hand.

 

“Thank you,” she told him gratefully. Up close her eyes were just as bright and clear as he had guessed they would be. Her smile was just as nice, too. Even as Ben gave a nod and strolled away, it stayed in his head.

 

\---

 

Her name was Francie Nolan and she was a Williamsburg girl. Ben’s mother frowned down on that neighborhood but Ben was not his mother, even though he loved his mother very much. He found himself seeking out Francie almost every day when he was out of class; he found himself not only studying with her and eating with her, but also enjoying her company. This was truly impressive because Ben judged people by high standards.

 

She told him some things about herself; not all, Ben suspected, but he did not pry. Francie was one of the most honest, open girls he knew. Every emotion was written on her face - in this way she was a little like a child. But she was mature and determined and this made her seem older than her age. Ben learned that she had a night job where she worked seven hours each night; yet she was able to keep up with classes. Even though she was only taking three, Francie admitted she had never gone to high school.

 

Ben was smart himself, which he tried not to be arrogant about too often, but Francie was smart in a different way. She picked up complex concepts quick as a whip and absorbed information like a sponge. Ben realized he didn’t mind spending extra time to tutor her just because she learned so well.

 

The only subject she had trouble with was French, but that was because she had zero foundation at all.

 

“How do you curse in French?” once she asked him miserably, massaging her forehead.

 

“ _Merde,_ ” he offered.

 

“Meh-uh-de!” she repeated. Ben tried to contain his laugh, but couldn’t.

 

Francie turned around indignantly, but then she covered her mouth and laughed out loud too. Ben saw the corner of her eyes crinkle and he thought that he liked her laugh even more than her smile.

 

\---

 

By the end of summer, Ben decided he liked Francie. He even told his mother about her.

 

“Well, it’s time you showed some interest in a girl!” his mother said.

 

But Ben was approaching application season for college and he knew he had no time for a girl, even if that girl was Francie. There was a quote that life was about the journey, not the destination. Not for Ben. Life, to him, was about reaching the destination in the shortest and most efficient route possible. His teachers called him “goal-oriented”, his mother called him “too ambitious for his own good,” kids who didn’t like him called him “deluded.” He didn’t care. He gave no opinion to what others thought of him; he knew what he wanted since he was thirteen and the rest was all about figuring out the steps to get there.

 

So he and Francie parted with a handshake, but even as he waved to her goodbye, he knew that he would see her again.

 


End file.
